Thank you - lots of good points brought together here. I tend to think of creativity as being something best approached sideways. Sitting at a laptop willing a thought to come doesn't work, but doing something that allows an idea to gently sidle into view tends to help.
Oh yes I can relate! Ideas often come to me on walks or showers. Do you reckon these activities needs to be fairly easy going cognitively to allow ideas to slide into view?
Yes Dan, I certainly find that doing something mildly absorbing, with a bit of physical activity, allows my mind to gently wander and make new connections.
Not sure what it says about me, but I find It easier to be creative when I have to show something to someone. It could be to collaborate with them or to deliver work to them. Either way if I have a meeting arranged to show them my work I am 1) more focussed and 2) come up with more interesting ideas.
Then when we meet that the creativity flows even more.
I totally understand from where your perspective is coming. But with novelty, deliberate rest & brief creativity rituals, one needs to have joy. You can't push one much to the edges of creativity, there has to be some sense of intrinsic motivation & desire to create.
Joy has to be in the driver seat. Take for example- thousands of people were at the starting line in Chamonix for multiple race distances. Everyone was invested, be it physically, financially, emotionally but mentally there is no yard stick to measure.
Even though every runner would be having the best trail running gear with them, every nutrition they need and then also tons of people would DNF meaning they would leave the race. It simply shows we have some expectation and when it doesn't get met, our emotional regulation goes haywire and we even don't remember that heck yeah we are in the mountains, the very place we love to explore. Everything gets forgotten from our cognition. Does the mountains change if we complete CCC in 15 hours instead of 12-13, none of it changes. We gotta deep dive that there is no replacement for Joy.
Joy has to be in the drive seat of training as well. Ben Dhiman after coming 2nd in UTMB simply put one gotta love doing this, then only one can succeed. Tom Evans also said his relationship with running went to that he had to perform & win but before this year's UTMB, he reclaimed his relationship with running which got reflected in his win. Ruth Croft has been having a similar approach for more than a decade. Does Courtney not have fun, when almost 99.99% of professionals would have quit, she kept chipping away and continued to cherish the community she was surrounded with.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot as well, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears is a great predictor of either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Franz Stampfl, coach of Roger Bannister said-The great barrier is the mental hurdle.
If Roger Bannister's coach knew it 70 years ago, then there is for sure people need to know that yeah mental component is a huge chunk of whether one succeeds or not.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears which either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Building on the brain warm-up shared by Funmentum on the Catherine Price 2023 Funtervention, I’ve noticed that, after I work on a blog post, because I forced myself to enter in a certain mental state to be able to write or review, I remain in the creativity zone for some time. Before I put the lid on the pot entirely (if I don’t, I won’t be able to sleep or begin the next urgent task !), I keep my phone close to catch any residual fragment of ideas that keeps popping while I’m transitioning (taking a shower, preparing supper, etc.) The idea flow is a bit exhausting, but I’m happy to have the fragments ready for next time I don’t know what to write about.
Then, on a rainy day during a vacation a year ago, I decided to gather a publishing plan of my ideas (writing which fragments from where go together in what order) in a spreadsheet. Since then, even more ideas are coming. Has structuring the ideas opened a door in my brain? As if being able to catch and organize the ideas easily has lessened the threshold to « emit » the ideas.
Glad to see you digging in on this Charles and it'd be fun to get you on Sustain What to discuss the book themes. For me, balancing my journalism with songwriting has helped break brittle patterns and allowed me to think about writing in completely fresh ways. And within songwriting a fantastic path to fresh ideas and self improvement is the feedback that comes through open mics, pulling together musical ensembles and, as you suggest, publishing rough drafts of tunes. I've posted four or five iterations of my song Good Souls and it continues to evolve. I've gone way beyond the recording I posted here on Sustain What: https://revkin.substack.com/p/a-song-of-remembrance-and-commitment
I also recommend 'switching' - changing up between the different types of creative work. Shuffle between reading and writing and editing for example, and keep going to where your motivation is maximized. In my thinking about a creative practice - I talk about the when, where, how, and who of your daily sessions - optimizing these can make creativity and creative work a transformative part of your day.
Thank you - lots of good points brought together here. I tend to think of creativity as being something best approached sideways. Sitting at a laptop willing a thought to come doesn't work, but doing something that allows an idea to gently sidle into view tends to help.
Thanks, Katie. I agree - sometimes you just have to relax your brain a little bit.
Oh yes I can relate! Ideas often come to me on walks or showers. Do you reckon these activities needs to be fairly easy going cognitively to allow ideas to slide into view?
Yes Dan, I certainly find that doing something mildly absorbing, with a bit of physical activity, allows my mind to gently wander and make new connections.
Some good thoughts here. Just got my copy of Super Communicators, my next read.
Thanks, Jack!
Not sure what it says about me, but I find It easier to be creative when I have to show something to someone. It could be to collaborate with them or to deliver work to them. Either way if I have a meeting arranged to show them my work I am 1) more focussed and 2) come up with more interesting ideas.
Then when we meet that the creativity flows even more.
I think this is a variation of 'creative desperation' - the fact that someone else will see it makes it more important.
You’re the man, Mr. Duhigg! I wrote a piece as a follow up to yours: https://open.substack.com/pub/tiagostake/p/reflections-on-duhiggs-latest-newsletter?r=8d23s&utm_medium=ios
Thank you! Your piece is great!
I totally understand from where your perspective is coming. But with novelty, deliberate rest & brief creativity rituals, one needs to have joy. You can't push one much to the edges of creativity, there has to be some sense of intrinsic motivation & desire to create.
Joy has to be in the driver seat. Take for example- thousands of people were at the starting line in Chamonix for multiple race distances. Everyone was invested, be it physically, financially, emotionally but mentally there is no yard stick to measure.
Even though every runner would be having the best trail running gear with them, every nutrition they need and then also tons of people would DNF meaning they would leave the race. It simply shows we have some expectation and when it doesn't get met, our emotional regulation goes haywire and we even don't remember that heck yeah we are in the mountains, the very place we love to explore. Everything gets forgotten from our cognition. Does the mountains change if we complete CCC in 15 hours instead of 12-13, none of it changes. We gotta deep dive that there is no replacement for Joy.
Joy has to be in the drive seat of training as well. Ben Dhiman after coming 2nd in UTMB simply put one gotta love doing this, then only one can succeed. Tom Evans also said his relationship with running went to that he had to perform & win but before this year's UTMB, he reclaimed his relationship with running which got reflected in his win. Ruth Croft has been having a similar approach for more than a decade. Does Courtney not have fun, when almost 99.99% of professionals would have quit, she kept chipping away and continued to cherish the community she was surrounded with.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot as well, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears is a great predictor of either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Franz Stampfl, coach of Roger Bannister said-The great barrier is the mental hurdle.
If Roger Bannister's coach knew it 70 years ago, then there is for sure people need to know that yeah mental component is a huge chunk of whether one succeeds or not.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears which either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
This is a wonderful response - thank you. And, as my wife just completed the Mont Blanc route in 4 days, she also appreciates it.
Interesting as always.
Building on the brain warm-up shared by Funmentum on the Catherine Price 2023 Funtervention, I’ve noticed that, after I work on a blog post, because I forced myself to enter in a certain mental state to be able to write or review, I remain in the creativity zone for some time. Before I put the lid on the pot entirely (if I don’t, I won’t be able to sleep or begin the next urgent task !), I keep my phone close to catch any residual fragment of ideas that keeps popping while I’m transitioning (taking a shower, preparing supper, etc.) The idea flow is a bit exhausting, but I’m happy to have the fragments ready for next time I don’t know what to write about.
Then, on a rainy day during a vacation a year ago, I decided to gather a publishing plan of my ideas (writing which fragments from where go together in what order) in a spreadsheet. Since then, even more ideas are coming. Has structuring the ideas opened a door in my brain? As if being able to catch and organize the ideas easily has lessened the threshold to « emit » the ideas.
Structure, I think, is everything - it makes creation so much easier, because you know where to start.
Glad to see you digging in on this Charles and it'd be fun to get you on Sustain What to discuss the book themes. For me, balancing my journalism with songwriting has helped break brittle patterns and allowed me to think about writing in completely fresh ways. And within songwriting a fantastic path to fresh ideas and self improvement is the feedback that comes through open mics, pulling together musical ensembles and, as you suggest, publishing rough drafts of tunes. I've posted four or five iterations of my song Good Souls and it continues to evolve. I've gone way beyond the recording I posted here on Sustain What: https://revkin.substack.com/p/a-song-of-remembrance-and-commitment
Hey Andy! Great to see you here. I would love to catch up sometime. Thanks for the note (and I'm excited to listen to the track).
So good! Ty!
I’d love to read an article from you relative to Steven Pressfield’s work.
I haven't read his work. I'll dive in!
He wrote the a number of popular movies, including the Legend of Bagger Vance and writes about the discipline and methodology to his creative process.
My creativity sparks when I am feeling joy. Assuming that’s due to Barbara Fredricksons broaden and build theory of positive emotions?
I agree, Bill: Joy makes everything - including creativity - much easier.
Great article.
Novelty, rest, and habits key.
I also recommend 'switching' - changing up between the different types of creative work. Shuffle between reading and writing and editing for example, and keep going to where your motivation is maximized. In my thinking about a creative practice - I talk about the when, where, how, and who of your daily sessions - optimizing these can make creativity and creative work a transformative part of your day.
Beautiful
Please take a look at mine
https://substack.com/@collapseofthewavefunction/note/p-167021101?r=5tpv59&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I just sit staring at something simple. After a while imagination starts sparking